Noise and Health (Jan 2023)

Personal Listening Device Use and Attitude to Noise in Relation to Depression and Anxiety among Medical Students

  • Jelena Ilić Živojinović,
  • Ivan Soldatović,
  • Dušan Backović,
  • Danka Vukašinović,
  • Silvana Babić,
  • Milena Tomanić,
  • Branislav Ilić,
  • Željko Vlaisavljević

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4103/nah.nah_27_23
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 25, no. 118
pp. 176 – 182

Abstract

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Background: High levels of environmental noise may lead to psychological symptoms. The present study has hypothesized that personal listening device (PLD) use and a negative attitude to noise are significantly related to anxiety and/or depression. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted on 431 six-grade students (35% male) at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade. All students completed the questionnaires related to socio-demographic data, noise/music exposure habits, behaviors related to PLD use, tinnitus, headaches, consumption of alcohol, coffee, energy drinks and cigarettes, YANS (Youth Attitude to Noise Scale), CES-D (The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression), and GAD–7 (Generalised Anxiety Disorder Assessment − 7 item scale) questionnaires. Results: There were 396 (91.9%) of investigated students who used PLD, with more frequent use among girls compared to boys (95.0% and 86.8%, respectively; p = 0.002). We found no significant relationship between the frequency of PLD use and depression and anxiety. However, continuous daily PLD use longer than 1 hour was significantly and positively related to depression (p = 0.006). Students with depression had a lower total YANS score compared to those without depression, indicating a more negative attitude toward noise (p = 0.042). Students with no difficulties to concentrate in noise and with a positive attitude to daily noises had about 37% lower chance to suffer from depression and anxiety, respectively. Conclusions: PLD use is common among medical students and may be associated with their mental health. Longer than 1 hour of continuous daily use of PLD may be positively related to depression. We also found a significant relationship between difficulties concentrating in noisy environments and depression, and between negative attitudes to daily noises and anxiety.

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